June 19, 2005
Hesistate to burn the buildings
So, it's a general rule here at JSGH (tm) that any time I walk around all day singing a particular song, that said song has earned the right to be posted here, and have all glory and praises showered upon it. It's just the way things work.
Of course, I extend this offer to all songs and artists. There is no exception to the rule. Not Air Supply, not LFO, not that song in the "Dockers" commercial.
However, there is one snag in the process, being that I very much dislike the idea of this (infrequently updated) blog to center upon a tight clique of 7-10 artists. I could select a dozen artists and survive off them for months, certainly, but what fun would that be? Not very much.
So when I spent the past three days humming Sufjan Stevens's "Detroit" to myself, at moments pausing to play the drama-chords on my imaginary piano, performing in my soothing baritone voice "From... the trem- bling- walls... It's... a great- i- dea...", it was clear that we had a dilemma on our hands.
The clincher, is that while I have lead to you a download of a gem off of Sufjan's latest masterpiece concept album Illinois, there were probably 4 other songs that could have (should have?) been tacked along with it. So it only seems fair to acknowledge the genius in this piece off of the precursor to Illinois, Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lakes State, which was the first of what Mr. Stevens hopes will be fifty (!) albums, each dedicated to one state in the union. I just hope that there are still only fifty (!) states by the time he's finished recording. From what I can tell, it is every bit as good as Illinois, which I was infatuated with from day one.
MP3 - Sufjan Stevens - Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!)
Stevens showcases a different kind of sound - or at least, it's different from most everything else. He dabbles on the folk-indie side of the stream, but on epic 8 minute journeys like this one he's usually backed up by a complicated arrangement of strings, bells, horns, and piano. It's a delicious musical cocktail that I can't seem to get enough of.
So you win this round, Sufjan, but I'm going to have to resist featuring the other 19 songs you wrote that are just as great.
(...maybe)
LINKS:
Visitn Sufjan's official site here.
Buy Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lakes State here.
Buy Illinois here.
View the lyrics to "Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!)" here.
June 9, 2005
Baby I'm bad news
So it looks like Rilo Kiley is making a run at the mainstream, signing a deal with Warner Bros. that will bring them a reissuing of their latest album, More Adventurous, a bit more coin, and in all likelihood a hell of a lot of hype. I'm sure we'll be seeing a guest appearance on The OC in no time. Kudos to them. And if you're one of those who aren't in to the whole massive distribution idea, well, we'll always have the good times.
Here is a taste of what may soon be all over the place.
MP3 Rilo Kiley - Does He Love You?
This song is infectious. INFECTIOUS. Great to hear it start at a pleasant little whispery ditty about wandering aloof and then twist and turn into the ANGRIEST VIOLINS EVER. This is a bit of a "chick" song, if you happen to have a thing against that, but may be my favorite. Let's not examine what that means.
MP3 Rilo Kiley - Portions For Foxes
The first single off of More Adventurous is no less catchy if not a bit less angry.
MP3 - Rilo Kiley - The Execution of All Things
The title track off their 2002 release.
I don't know how long these files will stay up because I uploaded them a few days ago and never got around to posting them, so download early.
LINKS:
Visit Rilo Kiley's official site here.
Find out loads of information and download tons of Rilo Kiley bootlegs here.
Buy More Adventurous here.
Buy The Execution of All Things here.
View the lyrics for "Does He Love You?" here.
View the lyrics for "Portions For Foxes" here.
View the lyrics for "The Execution of All Things" here.